Which breed bites most?

Should We Do Anything About Pit Bulls?

By Jill Kuraitis, 6-15-07

From Boise’s CBS affiliate, KBCI Channel 2, we have another report of a pit bull attack - this time, the dog’s own family.

And again, we have neighbors who know the dog saying “it was only a matter of time.”

What wasn’t reported on the local news to much extent is the fact that the boy in the family was apparently teasing and otherwise provoking the dog.  Update: The dog has been euthanized at the Idaho Humane Society. 

We are a dog family. You could say we’re bananas about them. We feel compelled to have two at all times, and we’d have more if we didn’t slap ourselves upside the head periodically. Yes, I’ve met nice pit bulls. VERY nice ones; big sloppy sweethearts, in fact.  I’ve also met big goofy sweet Rottweilers and Dobermans.

But I admit I am afraid of pit bulls, Rottweilers and Dobermans, even though my experience with them has been positive.  They just LOOK so darned mean.

Then again, I’m not fond of yappy little protective dogs, either. They look as though they could turn into the Wicked Witch’s Flying Monkeys any minute.

“Anything with teeth will bite,” said Dee Fugit, public relations and education director at the Idaho Humane Society. “But we don’t see the media here when a Dalmation has bitten off someone’s nose, or a Dachshund has badly wounded an ankle.”

The question of whether or not pit bulls bite more people than any other breed is a touchy one. There are scads of pro-pit bull organizations and websites which quote a variety of numbers, none of which put pit bulls at the top of the list, of course.

However, the Idaho Humane Society’s Executive Director, Jeff Rosenthal, DVM, does – sort of.  The breed “loosely defined as pit bulls” are implicated in 18% of total bite cases in Ada County. That means some of those dogs are mixes of some sort.  And what some people think are pit bulls – officially, American Staffordshire Terriers – are other breeds which can resemble them.

But Labrador Retrievers are next on the list, at 12%.  The herding dogs group – Border Collies, Heelers, Australian Shepherds and other herders – make up 20% of the total.

Those statistics surprise me, especially the Labradors. It appears I ought to be almost as wary of them as of pit bulls, and that never occurred to me.

As a person who holds animals in high regard – just this morning I scooped up a wounded robin from ParkCenter boulevard and took him home until he recovered from his daze, then let him go – I could not say “just get rid of all pit bulls” unless there was good evidence. 

There isn’t.

Are we going to put down all the herders, too?  And then come the Labradors – can you imagine the hue and cry if such a thing were proposed?

The arguments about irresponsible dog owners can be found everywhere – trying Googling the phrase – and I am more than convinced of the problem. It amazes me when a person’s dog has bitten – badly – more than once, and they continue to insist “he’s just not like that.” Since I have had the appalling experience of having to euthanized a beloved dog because he went for my throat, unprovoked – turned out he was sick – I know the heartbreak, yet it was an easy decision. The safety of my family and others was first, period. So I don’t get it when people won’t euthanize an incorrigible dog.

Nor do I understand people whose dogs won’t come when they’re called, walk at heel on a leash, and sit-stay on command.  Those seem as basic as teaching your kids not to run into traffic.

But I do understand why the emotional response of the public to pit bull attacks has come to define the breed.  The combination of excessive media coverage, irresponsible pit bull owners, and Animal Planet programs which highlight fighting pit bull rings getting busted have all contributed.

I could be wrong. 

Now, let’s all go to the kitchen, get a dog cookie, and work on that “sit” thing.

Here’s a darling pit bull mix puppy who is available at the Idaho Humane Society right now - he’s Login #702630

Pit bull Terrier/Dalmatian mix - male - 4 months old. Here we have one smart pup! He already knows basic commands such as sit, stay, down - and he even shakes hands.  WOW! On top of all that, he is super cute! He loves to fetch and does have a puppy energy level, but such potential don’t let him down if you stay on the obedience and training. He has no restrictions but, as with any dog, he should be supervised around children.

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